Her Grace
by lionkingforever
Summary: A young mare, the perfect lady and the grand duchess of Equestria. A war, a ball, an affair, a lie and a promise. She is no longer the grand duchess. (Cover art by YuntaoXD)
1. The Story

Wearing the most beautiful wedding dress and a long silky white veil, fastened by the loveliest tiara over her perfectly styled, curled mane was once upon a time a certain little unicorn filly's biggest dream. A dream which came true. Five years ago, Grand Duchess Rarity shed many tears when it did. She still did, occasionally. Yet the former was of happiness and joy, the latter of sorrow and grief.

Not too long after her birth, it was decided by their parents that Rarity was betrothed to her cousin, Prince Blueblood, and would marry him at the age of eighteen.

It was a wondrous occasion, one the bride was supposed to cherish forever. _Supposed_.

Her husband was a prince, thus it was only expected of him to be a master of cunning words and putting on a show of deceiving emotions. It was only expected of Rarity to so easily fall for those evanescent promises of love and vows of faithfulness, merely held together by a lattice of grandiose eloquence.

Once, when she truly thought of it, in all frankness, she found it rather amusing, what he told her on their wedding day, and how he did exactly the opposite after their marriage.

 _"I promise to stay by your side for all eternity."_ Rarity could barely remember the last time they spent in each other's company, out of their own accords, and genuinely enjoyed it.

And all those mistresses and larks at her expense.

 _"I promise to give not only my body, but also my soul to you."_ He never confided in her. He rarely had good-natured, _honest_ conversations with her. Every now and then, Rarity would ask herself if she, or anypony else for that matter, knew the _real_ Blueblood. He only masqueraded as the affectionate and doting husband when their innocent son was present.

 _"I promise to honor, and respect you."_ Rarity was a true, aristocratic lady, therefore of degrading characteristics, she had naught. Except for the fact that the only consensual intimacy she ever had with her husband, was on their wedding night, to conceive a foal.

The grand duchess was brought out of her dark musings by a familiar, husky voice. "Are you finished with staring at your narcissistic self in the mirror, my darling?" the unicorn prince in his formal military uniform asked impatiently with a thin smile "We don't want to be late, now do we?" Ignoring his pathetic, derisive remark, Rarity herself was clad in a trailing, navy velvet dress with snowy lace embroidery. His royal highness had personally ordered her exquisite dress, to show that he cared. As surprising as it may sound, he _did_ care. Rarity was completely sure of that. He sincerely cared about concealing the bruise on her withers.

* * *

After several minutes of silently studying his wife gazing outside from the carriage's window, he suddenly asked "Why?"

Slightly startled, Rarity blinked a couple of times before turning to her husband and slowly saying "Why, what?" A complacent look appeared on Blueblood's face. He enquired devilishly "Why won't you tell me, darling? Who is this mysterious paramour that you are going with behind my back?" then he tilted his head and whispered audaciously "Can he make you scream louder than I do?"

Within a single second of understanding of what he was shamelessly implying, the young mare smited Blueblood as hard as she could across his face. She then leaned in and whispered with an icy voice, calmly taking her time to clearly pronounce every syllable "Don't you ever dare, to say those _deplorable_ , _unforgivable_ , _vulgar_ words in my presence again, you wretched stallion; for I am no light mare. Unlike _you_ , I am a respectable, _noble_ pony, descendant of Princess Platinum."

Rarity leaned back in her seat, and closed her eyes for a while, before opening them and staring outside at the picturesque moonlit scenery.

"It's simply awful how a ball is being held in celebration of a victorious battle at this never-ending war, isn't it?"

"Yes."

* * *

"Good evening, Your Highness, Your Grace." said the captain as he bowed to the couple. "Ah, Captain Armour!" Prince Blueblood exclaimed, as he and Grand Duchess Rarity curtsied. "What a fine night it is tonight, Captain! After the siege of the Crystal Empire, I dare say it won't be long before the treacherous usurper, Empress Amore, will be overthrown and Our Lady, Queen Celestia, will take her rightful throne. The war should be over soon." Blueblood said with a faux smile. "I should hope so, my Lord." Captain Shining Armour said with an affirmative nod. He gave Rarity a lingering glance before lowering his head apace and asking "Your Grace, may I have this dance?" Rarity raised a dainty hoof, and gingerly took the hoof offered to her.

* * *

It was a foxtrot, reminding her of the very first time she danced with Blueblood, at the tender age of sixteen.

"My Lady, I thoroughly apologise for not coming to you any sooner." Shining Armour whispered in her ear as they waltzed across the grand ballroom. "I…understand." Rarity murmured.

"I have thought about your…unforeseen proposal."

"…And?"

"I-

Rarity held her breath as her heart desperately tightened in her chest.

-accept."

Grand Duchess Rarity regarded the captain of the Equestrian Royal Army with disbelieving, widened azure eyes. When she saw the candour in his light blue eyes, Rarity quickly took a step back, and said with a faint voice "Forgive me, Captain but, I believe, I need some fresh air." Captain Armour courteously inclined his head "Of course, Your Grace."

* * *

Briskly fanning herself, Rarity sighed shakily after taking a deep breath. The scent of the honeysuckles and roses gently dulcified her. She looked up wonderingly at the starlit night sky, at the constellation Cassiopeia, as she folded her ivory fan.

Suddenly, her delicate nose noticed a distinct, sweet fragrance. Rarity looked down to see a shrub with small, white flowers and dark purple berries. She put a gloved hoof on her chest, carefully inspecting the flower.

"Careful darling, it's poisonous."

The grand duchess turned around to see Prince Blueblood behind her. " _Cestrum nocturnum_ , the night blooming jasmine." he told her "Also known as, _Dama de Noche_."

Rarity briefly looked back at the deceivingly harmless flower, then, eyes downcast, murmured "I see…" Feeling his questioning eyes bore into her, she asked demurely "What is it?" Before answering, Blueblood tenderly lifted his wife's chin and nuzzled her cheek. Then he whispered "It's nothing, really; except for the fact that you are much more beautiful not constantly thinking about how much you hate me." At that statement, Rarity let out a dry laugh. "Liar." she said, receiving a slightly amused smile from her husband. "Well, at the very least you have to admit I'm a very _charming_ liar." Blueblood quipped before brushing his lips against her.

As she kissed him back, Grand Duchess Rarity couldn't help but feel like a vixen, for she had never lied to Prince Blueblood, until tonight, saying she hadn't gone behind his back with another stallion.

* * *

"Rosé?" Rarity softly asked as she poured herself a glass.

"Wine? At half past three in the morning?" Blueblood asked with a raised eyebrow as he took off his red coat. "Darling, I believe right now, we both are suffering an unbearable headache from that vainglorious account of the battle."

"I suppose in that case, who am I to refuse a wineglass? I'll be with you shortly." Blueblood said, and stepped into their bedchamber, closing the door.

Rarity poured another glass of the light pink vintage, then started sipping her own as a well-bred lady would.

A few minutes later, the prince joined her in his black robe. Levitating his crystal wineglass with his golden magic, he was about to drink, but abruptly stopped and started staring at the expensive liquor, ponderingly. Blueblood then looked at Rarity and queried "I would've asked for a toast, however, to what, could you and I possibly agree on?"

A foxy smirk appeared on Rarity's lips as she said in response "Our son, and the war."

"Ah, of course." Blueblood said empathetically.

They raised their glasses together in their respective auras.

"To our beloved son, may he never be heartbroken, nor break the hearts of others. May he have a marvelous life ahead of him, a life full of hope and promise." Rarity said. "A life better than _ours_ , anyways." Blueblood added as a bon mot. Rarity continued "To the cession of the…of this…" Realising his wife was actually uncomfortable with uttering certain words, even though she wanted to quite badly, Prince Blueblood said for her "To bloody hell with this damned war." They clinked their wineglasses together, and wordlessly drank. When the prince and grand duchess had polished off their glasses, Blueblood stood up, and was about to ask Rarity if she would come to bed with him, but then became aware of the fact that she was still wearing her evening gown. He bade Rarity goodnight and retired, a touch drowsily.

As a matter of fact, Grand Duchess Rarity had no intention of sleeping tonight. She caught sight of the ornate grandfather clock, it read 4:06.

It was only a matter of minutes before the cyanide took effect.

The noblemare poured herself another glass of the sweet rosé. The soon-to-be late prince was highly skilled and talented in diplomacy, foreign languages, fencing and other arts, however, he was no connoisseur of wine.

Nevertheless, that didn't matter in the slightest.

As in less than an hour, Captain Armour's troops would dethrone the sadistic autocrat, Celestia, in a coup d'état, and replace her with her considerate and bright, yet prudent and reservedly serene sister, Princess Luna.

Other than the princess, all of Celestia's close family was to be massacred.

Luckily for the grand duchess, she had made a compromise with Armour. In exchange for murdering Prince Blueblood, favoured nephew of Celestia, no harm would befall her and her own son. After the purging of the brutal Solar regime, the newly crowned Queen Luna would negotiate with the Crystal Empire and end the accursed decade long war with their sister, Amore. The empress would likely step down and be succeeded by her daughter, Princess Cadence.

Rarity?

She'd take her son and disappear to the secluded and peaceful hamlet of Ponyville. Once there, she could finally be the mare she always wanted to be: A modest seamstress.

* * *

 **Thank you for taking the time to read this story, and I hope you enjoyed it. Please don't forget to review!**


	2. Author's Note

To my dearest followers and readers,

It had been over a year that I hadn't published or updated a story. To be honest, I didn't really think I would publish this story, because I had completely given up on writing on and continuing _'The Center of Attention'_. However, every single time that I got an email saying that I had a new follower, or that someone had favourited one of my stories or me, I would ask myself if it was fair or right to keep these awesome people, who had taken their time to read my stories, without an update or story. That's when I decided to write _'Her Grace'_. So to all the wonderful people who read, reviewed, followed, and favourited my stories, a huge, heartfelt thank you. I hope everyone is doing great and if not, things get better for them.

Thanks again and best wishes,

Lionkingforever

P.S.

Did anyone think that Queen Celestia was going to be dethroned by Princess Luna before reading it in the end? I ask because I actually left two clues in the story.


End file.
